Natural mangroves are a type of ecosystem made of various kinds of trees that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics. Broadly, the term “mangrove” refers to the entire plant assemblage, or mangal, found by depositional coastal environments. The roots of the mangrove provide habitat for marine flora and fauna, such as fish, crustaceans, and birds. Moreover, the roots act as a substrate for marine life colonization, and trap aquatic nutrients for marine life. Naturally occurring mangroves are rapidly disappearing for a number of reasons including climate change, barnacle infestation, weeds, pollution, logging, oil exploration and extraction, shrimp agriculture, tourism, and urban development. Urban developers clear mangrove forests to make room for boats and industrial, commercial, and residential areas. The disappearance of mangroves, or deforestation, contributes to declines in fisheries, threats to bird species, erosion and land subsidence, degradation of clean water, salinization of coastal soils, and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Dock pilings and other structures along the coastline provide inadequate protection for marine life from predators. Coastal structures, like seawalls, stabilize adjacent soil. U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,330 (O'Hare) discloses a synthetic habitat device comprising a horizontal member and a plurality of cylindrical downward curving appendages. The device is permanently attached to existing bulkhead structures bordering an aquatic system and is located adjacent to and below the surface of the water. The synthetic habitat device is problematic because the device provides only a limited amount of shelter space for marine life. Once the first-to-arrive species occupy the device, other species remain unprotected. Similarly, the device provides only a limited amount of surface area for colonizing aquatic life.